Rachel and Terry -

I am a big fan of Terry Gross and her “Fresh Air” program on PBS.  She is one of the best interviewer’s I have ever heard.  Often I listen to podcasts of Fresh Air episodes while I am out walking my dog.  The one I listened to today was probably the best one I have heard so far:  Rachel Maddow.

I cannot describe what sheer joy it was to experience two of the finest minds on the planet engaging in a dialect that was uncommonly intelligent and interesting.  Every once in a while I hear or see something the rises above our dumbed-down and polarized society, and it lifts me from my simmering despair.  Fortunately for you, I downloaded this wonderful podcast, which you can listen to right here!  I know it will take 45 minutes of your time, but you won’t regret it. 

~ Tom

Will SCOTUS stoop to even lower depths?

Frankly, I was really depressed over the reports that have been coming out of the Supreme Court hearings on the Affordable Health Care Act.  Commentator after commentator was shoveling the dirt into the grave.  I was saddened not only because the Act was apparently going down the drain, but because it might well cost President Obama the election.  But then my hopes were buoyed when I read this article.  I sure hope Professor Stone is correct.

LOTR orgy

Eileen has been in Palm Springs since Friday at a conference.  So, I took the opportunity to watch the entire Blu-Ray extended version of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy on our 50” flat screen.  A mere 14 hours or so.  It was raining all weekend, so it was a perfect thing to do. 

I purchased the boxed set using a gift certificate that my son gave me for Christmas.  The reviews of this collection have been fantastic, with pretty much everyone raving over the additional content added to each of the films.  The characters become much more complex and the plot and story are enriched greatly.  The Fellowship of the Ring gets an additional 30 minutes;  The Two Towers gets an additional 43 minutes; The Return of the King gets a whopping 50 new minutes.

Each of the movies takes up two Blu-Rays because they would have had to compress the content to fit it all on one disc, which would have decreased the overall quality.  And, each movie has three additional discs with special features, all of which total 26 hours!  So, all in all you get 15 discs! 

I just finished my marathon a couple of hours ago.  It was awesome.  What a masterpiece.  It’s almost impossible for me to figure out how they did all that stuff and made it look so real and believable.  I’m looking forward to watching some of the special features discs to find out, but right now I am definitely “LOTR’ed” out.

Bruno Mars–The Lazy Song

If this doesn’t cheer you up you need to find a good therapist as soon as possible.

Personally, I love it.

Birth of the Cool–A new look

As you can see, I have adopted a new template for the blog.  The main reason for the change is that the old template consistently cut off the right side of videos that I have posted.  And besides, the old template was getting a bit outdated, having been in use since I started my blog.  I am going to be making further tweaks, but I just wanted to get the new template in place.  I hope you like it.  If not, I hope you will come to accept it.

~ Tom

The adult in the room

After watching the insane clown car antics otherwise known as the Republican primaries, it was a breath of fresh air to see this short film made by Academy Award®-winning director Davis Guggenheim and narrated by none other than Tom Hanks.  I for one am proud to call him my President.

The Blog software may cut off a bit of the right side of the video.  If so, use this link for a direct connection to YouTube.

Cab was ultra cool

My old friend Dave Gilson sent me this terrific video of Cab Calloway in a 1932 performance of “Kickin’ the Gong Around."  All I can say is that as far as dance moves go, Cab was about 30 years ahead of James Brown.  Enjoy – this is a lot of fun.

~ Tom

Barney Rosset–R.I.P.

Sunday’s S.F. Chronicle published this article on the occasion of Barney Rosset’s death at age 89.  I must admit that while his name has popped up intermittently in my life, I never stitched it all together to reveal what an interesting, cool character he was.  Reading over the article, I was thinking, “Ah, here’s a movie in the making.”  Something along the lines of Ed Harris in “Pollock?”  Who would you choose to play Rosset?

“American Rhetoric”– a wonderful web site

Just poking around the Internet I found this terrific site.  I haven’t yet plumbed the depths of what it has to offer, but the Movie Speeches and the Top 100 speeches should be enough to convince anyone that this is a site well worth bookmarking.  Enjoy.

Breitbart–R.I.H.

I never wish for anyone’s death.  However, it seems of late that everyone who dies is a good person.  Thus, as long as someone has to die I would rather it be someone like Andrew Breibart.  He was a truly evil person.  If there is a hell, he will be going there.